How can I stop my light bulbs from blowing and why do they keep blowing?

Why are my light bulbs blowing constantly? We examine the causes of light bulbs blowing: Faulty light circuits and faulty bulbs. These are some suggestions to help stop bulbs from blowing too often.

Warning: You must adhere to the Electrical Regulations in order to complete electrical work.

Relax!!! It does not necessarily mean that you have a serious wiring problem. This is a problem that can’t be ignored and has been investigated for many years. Fuses and MCBs will detect a wiring problem in your circuit before it reaches the bulb.

What Causes a Bulb to Burst?

There are several reasons bulbs can explode, but the most important is that they are cheaper. Cheap bulbs have much fewer elements and can be destroyed by any sudden surges of power. It’s always cheaper to buy higher quality, more expensive light bulbs.

Bulbs can also blow if there is a loose connection in the lamp holder. The reason is that the circuit may not be completed tightly enough and electricity might have caused it to “arc” across the contact rather than flowing through it. This can cause more heat to be produced in the fitting than expected, or as the bulb is designed for.

This can also happen if there is a loose spring-loaded connection to the bulb holder. This can cause electricity to arc across your contact, heat up and blow the bulb. To check if the bulb’s contact is corroded, you can look at it.

Arcing electricity melts the metal it’s arcing onto (This is how arc welding works). If the bulb contact is subjected to arcing, small indentations are called pitting.

Sometimes it is possible for the light switch to flicker if its live connection is loose. The bulb will heat up and, although it is unlikely, it may blow due to this.

What Happens When a Bulb Bursts?

The fuse for the lighting circuit can trip or blow when a bulb blows. This makes the problem appear larger than it really is.

A blowing lamp tripping an MCB occurs because the lamp element becomes thinner over its lifetime to the point that it breaks at the thinnest point. This point will then melt just before failure. Momentarily, the resistance of an overheating element will be very low and a current spike is created. This is picked up by MCBs but not fuses.

Blowing Bulb Checklist

If your bulbs don’t seem to be working, here are three things you should look at:

• Your bulb supplier
• Your bulb holder’s wire connections
• The spring-loaded connectors must be working correctly inside the bulb holder

You can also test the tightness of your switches connections as a last resort.

As stated above, you must ensure that the power is off before you perform any maintenance.

As always hiring a lighting installation company can always help especially if they are fully licenced and insured. Check their experience and reviews online to make sure you are hiring the right one!

How to stop LED Bulbs from Blowing

As LED bulbs or low-energy bulbs become more popular, there is no filament for them to blow like the ones described above. If your bulbs keep blowing, even if you don’t have very cheap ones, then other problems could be the reason.

This is a typical example of the questions we are asked.

Our house has had to change “good quality” bulbs within two weeks. We have also had three LED bulbs go out in less than one year. We change bulbs in fixtures all the time: base down or base up…it doesn’t really matter. Are there any ideas as to what could be the problem?

You could have a variety of issues. It could be:

• Broken/unstable connections can cause arcing
• Cross-connection of one conductor in the circuit
• Overcurrent – This is when there is too much current in the circuit. Overcurrent – i.e. too much current in a circuit. This is usually caused by an incorrect fuse or tiny circuit breakers in the circuit.
• Wiring that is damaged or degraded. Alter, furry critters, or mechanical damage (e.g. picture hook, stray screws or nail

After you have determined that there is no loose fitting or connection in the bulb holder, we recommend that an electrician be hired to inspect the entire lighting circuit and any other similar circuits. This will allow you to identify any potential faults and any malfunctioning accessories. Find one near you by clicking here.